Ceremonial Groundbreaking Set For 5/6 School

By Tanjua Damon

The plans and preparation for the 5/6 school have been anything but low-key, but a groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for July 10 is expected to be.

Superintendent of Schools John R. Reed said the event on July 10 will be nothing elaborate, just a way to honor the project getting underway. The ceremony is expected to begin at 11:30 am on the site with school board members and hopefully First Selectman Herb Rosenthal, Legislative Council Chairman Pierre Rochman, and Public Building and Site Chairman Francis Krasnickas present.

“It’s going to be very low keyed,” Dr Reed said. “It’s a ceremonial ground breaking.”

The 5/6 school project is expected to cost $28.6 million to build. If all goes well during the construction phase, the school is expected to open in January 2003.

The school will be set on 20 acres of town-owned property at Watertown Hall on the corner of Wasserman Way and Trades Lane. It is expected to alleviate crowding experienced in both the elementary schools and middle school in the district. The 5/6 school is designed to hold a student population of 1,100 students.

The building on Wasserman Way will include 44 classrooms arranged in two-room clusters. Each cluster will have a shared small group instruction room along with a moveable partition. The triangular style design divides the school into two areas.

The school will also include a library/media center, special education classroom and resource room, three art rooms, three music rooms, full-sized gymnasium, a cafetorium with a stage, administrative offices, maintenance, mechanical, and storage rooms. An elevator will also be available at the school.

The project is designed to have separate unloading areas for school buses and automobiles. There will be parking for visitors and staff. The school will also have softball/baseball fields, a multi-purpose field, and an outdoor hard-surfaced play area.

“We’re off and running,” Dr Reed said. “The next big sighting will be when the steel goes up and the building starts to take shape.”